Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Your Gift Ideas Needed ASAP

I need some help coming up with a $10 present for our office gift exchange by tomorrow. For the past few years I’ve bought wine, ale, anything alcoholic, knowing those are the items that people will "steal" again and again. But there must be something else out there that people want.

The way our exchange works is everyone who brings a gift gets a number. The best number to get is #1. You’ll see why in a minute. We start at #1, who must select a gift from "under the tree." Then #2 can take #1's gift or choose from the pile under the tree. There are up to 3 "steals" for each number. At the very end, #1 can choose any other gift or keep whatever he has.

It’s funny to see what people fight over. As I said alcohol predominates. But then there are silly things. Like one year we came away with the prize gift of a wind-up bird. You just never know. But once something is stolen a few times, everybody wants it.

So help me out here. I don’t have a lot of time to shop, so it has to be easily accessible. What would you buy for $10?

18 Comments:

The most fought-after item ever in the history of our office gift exchange (which was coreographed in a matter similar to yours) was a down throw. I believe they have them in Tarjay/Wally world for 10-$15.

A friend of mine bought a cookie jar at the Container Store and filled it with cookies for her gift exchange.

I bought a platter set from the Crate and Barrel outlet for mine but thought about something from Restoration Hardware. (They have fun little trinkets.) I suppose Spencers would work. Or Urban Outfitters.

Many years ago we had this round robin gift exchange with a group of couples with whom we socialized. The gift that was "stolen" from the beginning was a bottle of cognac. At the end of the exchange the cognac "owners" were encouraged to open the bottle and share it with the rest of us. When the box was opened we all became hysterical laughing. It was, of course, NOT cognac but a jar of mixed nuts! The couple who brought it had been laughing with one another throughout the exchange but we all thought they were tipsy with the wine we were drinking. I'll never forget that gift exchange and the lesson it taught all of us: greediness is not next to godliness. :-)

Gift cards are obviously an easy bet but I love the cookie jar/homebaked cookies idea A LOT! In fact I may do that for our gift exchange. Thanks, Kristin.

last year I gave this bizarre scarf that was made of round "balls" of fake fur. It got a HUGE LAUGH and people still talk about it and have NO CLUE who put it in under the "tree". Gift cards are good...but I like to give odd stuff that puzzles everyone. Urban Outfitters has some wacky stuff...this year I'm thinking of giving long fingerless gloves...very popular with 20 somethings but perplexing to those over 35.

i believe the talking homer simpson bottle opener came from one of those stores with all kinds of kitchen gadgets. the stores that i don't know the name of because the kitchen is my least favorite room in the house. i'm sorry to say that i wasn't the one who brought it, and i also didn't get it, though i fought hard for it!

i like the idea of homebaked cookies, but that wouldn't be popular in my office because everyone is on some kind of special low carb or all soup or whatever diet.

gift cards are a good backup because they don't create unwanted stuff but people don't fight over them.

this doesn't help you this year, but for future reference, last year my office made it a "re-gift" exchange where we brought in crazy gifts that we had received that we didn't want anymore. there was actually some fighting over other people's unwanted gifts. after the gift exchange, i volunteered to bring to goodwill anything that people didn't want to bring home with them. but by the time our waiter took what he wanted, and then i stopped by my boyfriend's office and let his co-workers rifle through the leftovers, there was nothing left to bring to goodwill. so we all got rid of stuff we didn't want, got other stuff we did want, made our waiter happy, and it didn't cost anyone anything! i highly recommend this idea. (this year, my office seems to have forgotten that we usually do a gift exchange and i'm not reminding them!)

Starbuck's coffee package, candle things, spa type stuff and massage oil were all popular at our office thing! That is so much fun! Some years I've done that with the school staff and it had to be a tacky gift or at least a re-gift. It was a hoot! I got a red rotary dial telephone!

One of the things that make Christmas special is the spirit of giving. As children we can’t wait for Christmas morning to open presents. We thought in terms of receiving. As adults we think in terms of giving. And hopefully, our unique Christmas gift ideas are gifts of love. Men look for just the right gifts for women. Women usually shop for men, their own children as well as others, and for family and friends. Here are some suggestions to get you started. http://unique-christmas-gift-ideas-tips.blogspot.com .

One of the things that make Christmas special is the spirit of giving. As children we can’t wait for Christmas morning to open presents. We thought in terms of receiving. As adults we think in terms of giving. And hopefully, our unique Christmas gift ideas are gifts of love. Men look for just the right gifts for women. Women usually shop for men, their own children as well as others, and for family and friends. Here are some suggestions to get you started. http://unique-christmas-gift-ideas-tips.blogspot.com .